61 pages 2 hours read

Stephen King

Night Shift

Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 1978

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Stories 9-12

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Story 9 Summary: “Trucks”

An unnamed first-person narrator shelters in a diner of a truck stop with a small group of bewildered people. They cower behind the banquettes and stare uncertainly at the few trucks clustered in the parking lot. When Snodgrass, a “potbell[ied]” salesman, attempts to flee, a truck springs to life and runs directly into him. The truck thrusts Snodgrass into a ditch, where he takes hours to die. The narrator, still in the diner with the others, relates a tale familiar to them: Hours before, he was travelling on a nearby highway when a semi-trailer started knocking other cars off the road, killing drivers and destroying cars. The others have had similar experiences. None of them can explain why, but large trucks and busses have come to life and begun killing all humans.

Five survivors remain in the diner: the narrator, an elderly short-order cook (counterman), a teen named Jerry and his girlfriend, and a trucker. They plan to wait out the malevolent trucks in the diner. The counterman assures them that the diner has enough food to feed them for a month. However, when the power goes out, the counterman relays that the refrigerated food will spoil in three days. He also communicates that they will need to collect the drinkable water from the bathrooms if they are to subsist.

Related Titles

By Stephen King

Plot Summary

logo

Bag of Bones

Stephen King

Bag of Bones

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Billy Summers

Stephen King

Billy Summers

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Children of the Corn

Stephen King

Children of the Corn

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Different Seasons

Stephen King

Different Seasons

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Doctor Sleep

Stephen King

Doctor Sleep

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Dolores Claiborne

Stephen King

Dolores Claiborne

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Elevation

Stephen King

Elevation: A Novel

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

End of Watch

Stephen King

End of Watch

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Fairy Tale

Stephen King

Fairy Tale

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Finders Keepers

Stephen King

Finders Keepers

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Firestarter

Stephen King

Firestarter

Stephen King

Plot Summary

logo

From a Buick 8

Stephen King

From a Buick 8

Stephen King

Plot Summary

logo

Full Dark, No Stars

Stephen King

Full Dark, No Stars

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Gerald's Game

Stephen King

Gerald's Game

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Gwendy's Button Box

Stephen King, Richard Chizmar

Gwendy's Button Box

Stephen King, Richard Chizmar